994 research outputs found
Simulations of core convection in rotating A-type stars: Differential rotation and overshooting
We present the results of 3--D simulations of core convection within A-type
stars of 2 solar masses, at a range of rotation rates. We consider the inner
30% by radius of such stars, thereby encompassing the convective core and some
of the surrounding radiative envelope. We utilize our anelastic spherical
harmonic (ASH) code, which solves the compressible Navier-Stokes equations in
the anelastic approximation, to examine highly nonlinear flows that can span
multiple scale heights. The cores of these stars are found to rotate
differentially, with central cylindrical regions of strikingly slow rotation
achieved in our simulations of stars whose convective Rossby number (R_{oc}) is
less than unity. Such differential rotation results from the redistribution of
angular momentum by the nonlinear convection that strongly senses the overall
rotation of the star. Penetrative convective motions extend into the overlying
radiative zone, yielding a prolate shape (aligned with the rotation axis) to
the central region in which nearly adiabatic stratification is achieved. This
is further surrounded by a region of overshooting motions, the extent of which
is greater at the equator than at the poles, yielding an overall spherical
shape to the domain experiencing at least some convective mixing. We assess the
overshooting achieved as the stability of the radiative exterior is varied, and
the weak circulations that result in that exterior. The convective plumes serve
to excite gravity waves in the radiative envelope, ranging from localized
ripples of many scales to some remarkable global resonances.Comment: 48 pages, 16 figures, some color. Accepted to Astrophys. J. Color
figures compressed with appreciable loss of quality; a PDF of the paper with
better figures is available at
http://lcd-www.colorado.edu/~brownim/core_convectsep24.pd
The role of dietary polyphenols in the moderation of the inflammatory response in early stage colorectal cancer
Current focus in colorectal cancer management is on reducing overall mortality by increasing the number of early stage cancers diagnosed and treated with curative intent. Despite the success of screening programmes in down-staging colorectal cancer, interval cancer rates are substantial and other strategies are desirable. Sporadic colorectal cancer is largely associated with lifestyle factors including diet. Polyphenols are phytochemicals ingested as part of a normal diet which are abundant in plant foods including fruits/berries and vegetables. These may exert their anti-carcinogenic effects via the modulation of inflammatory pathways. Key signal transduction pathways are fundamental to the association of inflammation and disease progression including those mediated by NF-κB and STAT, PI3K and COX. Our aim was to examine the evidence for the effect of dietary polyphenols intake on tumour and host inflammatory responses to determine if polyphenols may be effective as part of a dietary intervention. There is good epidemiological evidence of a reduction in colorectal cancer risk from case-control and cohort studies assessing polyphenol intake. It would be premature to suggest a major public health intervention to promote their consumption however, dietary change is safe and feasible, emphasising the need for further investigation of polyphenols and colorectal cancer risk
Comparison of the prognostic value of measures of the tumor inflammatory cell infiltrate and tumor-associated stroma in patients with primary operable colorectal cancer
The aim of the present study was to compare the clinical utility of two measures of the
inflammatory cell infiltrate - a H&E-based assessment of the generalised inflammatory cell
infiltrate (the Klintrup-Mäkinen (KM) grade), and an immunohistochemistry-based
assessment of combined CD3+ and CD8+ T-cell density (the “Immunoscore”), in conjunction
with assessment of the tumor stroma percentage (TSP) in patients undergoing resection of
stage I-III colorectal cancer (CRC). 246 patients were identified from a prospectively
maintained database of CRC resections in a single surgical unit. Assessment of KM grade
and TSP was performed using full H&E sections. CD3+ and CD8+ T-cell density was
assessed on full sections and the Immunoscore calculated. KM grade and Immunoscore were
strongly associated (P<0.001). KM grade stratified cancer-specific survival (CSS) from 88%
to 66% (P=0.002) and Immunoscore from 93% to 61% (P<0.001). Immunoscore further
stratified survival of patients independent of KM grade from 94% (high KM, Im4) to 60%
(low KM, Im0/1). Furthermore, TSP stratified survival of patients with a weak inflammatory
cell infiltrate (low KM: from 75% to 47%; Im0/1: from 71% to 38%, both P<0.001) but not
those with a strong inflammatory infiltrate. On multivariate analysis, only Immunoscore (HR
0.44, P<0.001) and TSP (HR 2.04, P<0.001) were independently associated with CSS. These
results suggest that the prognostic value of an immunohistochemistry-based assessment of the
inflammatory cell infiltrate is superior to H&E-based assessment in patients undergoing
resection of stage I-III CRC. Furthermore, assessment of the tumor-associated stroma, using
TSP, further improves prediction of outcome
Peaks and Troughs in Helioseismology: The Power Spectrum of Solar Oscillations
I present a matched-wave asymptotic analysis of the driving of solar
oscillations by a general localised source. The analysis provides a simple
mathematical description of the asymmetric peaks in the power spectrum in terms
of the relative locations of eigenmodes and troughs in the spectral response.
It is suggested that the difference in measured phase function between the
modes and the troughs in the spectrum will provide a key diagnostic of the
source of the oscillations. I also suggest a form for the asymmetric line
profiles to be used in the fitting of solar power spectra.
Finally I present a comparison between the numerical and asymptotic
descriptions of the oscillations. The numerical results bear out the
qualitative features suggested by the asymptotic analysis but suggest that
numerical calculations of the locations of the troughs will be necessary for a
quantitative comparison with the observations.Comment: 18 pages + 8 separate figures. To appear in Ap
The CoRoT target HD175726: an active star with weak solar-like oscillations
Context. The CoRoT short runs give us the opportunity to observe a large
variety of late-type stars through their solar-like oscillations. We report
observations of the star HD175726 that lasted for 27 days during the first
short run of the mission. The time series reveals a high-activity signal and
the power spectrum presents an excess due to solar-like oscillations with a low
signal-to-noise ratio. Aims. Our aim is to identify the most efficient tools to
extract as much information as possible from the power density spectrum.
Methods. The most productive method appears to be the autocorrelation of the
time series, calculated as the spectrum of the filtered spectrum. This method
is efficient, very rapid computationally, and will be useful for the analysis
of other targets, observed with CoRoT or with forthcoming missions such as
Kepler and Plato. Results. The mean large separation has been measured to be
97.2+-0.5 microHz, slightly below the expected value determined from solar
scaling laws.We also show strong evidence for variation of the large separation
with frequency. The bolometric mode amplitude is only 1.7+-0.25 ppm for radial
modes, which is 1.7 times less than expected. Due to the low signal-to-noise
ratio, mode identification is not possible for the available data set of
HD175726. Conclusions. This study shows the possibility of extracting a seismic
signal despite a signal-to-noise ratio of only 0.37. The observation of such a
target shows the efficiency of the CoRoT data, and the potential benefit of
longer observing runs.Comment: 8 pages. Accepted in A&
Open issues in probing interiors of solar-like oscillating main sequence stars: 2. Diversity in the HR diagram
We review some major open issues in the current modelling of low and
intermediate mass, main sequence stars based on seismological studies. The
solar case was discussed in a companion paper, here several issues specific to
other stars than the Sun are illustrated with a few stars observed with CoRoT
and expectations from Kepler data.Comment: GONG 2010 - SoHO 24, A new era of seismology of the Sun and
solar-like stars, To be published in the Journal of Physics: Conference
Series (JPCS
Global asteroseismic properties of solar-like oscillations observed by Kepler : A comparison of complementary analysis methods
We present the asteroseismic analysis of 1948 F-, G- and K-type main-sequence
and subgiant stars observed by the NASA {\em Kepler Mission}. We detect and
characterise solar-like oscillations in 642 of these stars. This represents the
largest cohort of main-sequence and subgiant solar-like oscillators observed to
date. The photometric observations are analysed using the methods developed by
nine independent research teams. The results are combined to validate the
determined global asteroseismic parameters and calculate the relative precision
by which the parameters can be obtained. We correlate the relative number of
detected solar-like oscillators with stellar parameters from the {\em Kepler
Input Catalog} and find a deficiency for stars with effective temperatures in
the range \,K and a drop-off in
detected oscillations in stars approaching the red edge of the classical
instability strip. We compare the power-law relationships between the frequency
of peak power, , the mean large frequency separation,
, and the maximum mode amplitude, , and show that
there are significant method-dependent differences in the results obtained.
This illustrates the need for multiple complementary analysis methods to be
used to assess the robustness and reproducibility of results derived from
global asteroseismic parameters.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of
the Royal Astronomical Societ
The Relation between Physical and Gravitational Geometry
The appearance of two geometries in one and the same gravitational theory is
familiar. Usually, as in the Brans-Dicke theory or in string theory, these are
conformally related Riemannian geometries. Is this the most general relation
between the two geometries allowed by physics ? We study this question by
supposing that the physical geometry on which matter dynamics take place could
be Finslerian rather than just Riemannian. An appeal to the weak equivalence
principle and causality then leads us the conclusion that the Finsler geometry
has to reduce to a Riemann geometry whose metric - the physical metric - is
related to the gravitational metric by a generalization of the conformal
transformation.Comment: 15 pages, Te
A more realistic representation of overshoot at the base of the solar convective envelope as seen by helioseismology
The stratification near the base of the Sun's convective envelope is governed
by processes of convective overshooting and element diffusion, and the region
is widely believed to play a key role in the solar dynamo. The stratification
in that region gives rise to a characteristic signal in the frequencies of
solar p modes, which has been used to determine the depth of the solar
convection zone and to investigate the extent of convective overshoot. Previous
helioseismic investigations have shown that the Sun's spherically symmetric
stratification in this region is smoother than that in a standard solar model
without overshooting, and have ruled out simple models incorporating
overshooting, which extend the region of adiabatic stratification and have a
more-or-less abrupt transition to subadiabatic stratification at the edge of
the overshoot region. In this paper we consider physically motivated models
which have a smooth transition in stratification bridging the region from the
lower convection zone to the radiative interior beneath. We find that such a
model is in better agreement with the helioseismic data than a standard solar
model.Comment: 18 pages, 4 tables, 24 figures - to appear in MNRAS (version a:
equation 9 corrected
The CoRoT Evolution and Seismic Tools Activity: Goals and Tasks
The forthcoming data expected from space missions such as CoRoT require the
capacity of the available tools to provide accurate models whose numerical
precision is well above the expected observational errors. In order to secure
that these tools meet the specifications, a team has been established to test
and, when necessary, to improve the codes available in the community. The CoRoT
evolution and seismic tool activity (ESTA) has been set up with this mission.
Several groups have been involved. The present paper describes the motivation
and the organisation of this activity, providing the context and the basis for
the presentation of the results that have been achieved so far. This is not a
finished task as future even better data will continue to demand more precise
and complete tools for asteroseismology.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and
Space Science, 'CoRoT ESTA' special volum
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